A lovingly unreasonable wishlist for August 25: newly real dream games, ancient sequel pleas, probable trailers and several ideas no publisher is brave enough to fund.
Updated August 1, 2026
Summer Game Fest has come and gone. Some of the impossible games on this list are no longer impossible; others remain trapped in development limbo, corporate vaults or my imagination. The next stop is Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 25, so the percentages below now estimate the chance of each game appearing there—not the chance that it exists at all.
This is still my happy place: part prediction board, part old-school magazine feature, part catalogue of games I want to will into existence. But it no longer needs to be a 140-minute endurance test. Every entry now follows the same rhythm: where it stands, what I want, and the odds of seeing it at ONL.
The scale is simple:
75–100%: surely happening, unless the gods of scheduling intervene.
40–74%: plausible, with enough smoke to keep the hopium burning.
10–39%: possible, but I would not stake the house on it.
0.1–9%: pure long shot.
0%: not a prediction—just a dream I refuse to delete.
And yes: if I have missed something obvious, tell me. Nicely. I am fragile from decades of waiting for Banjo-Threeie.
First, the dreams that became real
Several predictions in the old draft have graduated from “please exist” to “oh no, now I have to wait for gameplay.” Let us enjoy that rare feeling.
Warhorse’s open-world Middle-earth RPG — 10%
This is the big one. Warhorse Studios has now officially announced an open-world Middle-earth RPG: the studio behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance is building the grounded, deeply immersive Tolkien game generations have wanted. There is no public title, date, era or protagonist yet, so my old pitch—The Lord of the Rings: Age of Legends—can finally retire with honour.
The dream remains a single-player, third-person RPG with a created hero, meaningful origins, horses, dense settlements, dangerous wilderness and no live-service scaffolding. Warhorse is an unexpectedly perfect fit. Because the announcement is fresh and details are being held back, I expect silence at ONL—but for the first time in 44 years, the percentage refers only to a trailer. The game itself is real.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake — 20%
Nintendo finally did it. The Switch 2 remake was revealed in June with little more than a beautifully woven teaser, and it is due in 2026. I want modern scale without open-world sprawl: a richer Hyrule Field, genuinely unsettling temples, orchestral music and the original game’s immaculate structure left intact.
An ESRB rating suggests it may not be far away, but Nintendo usually prefers its own Directs. A Gamescom appearance is possible; a September Zelda blowout feels likelier.
Alien: Isolation 2 — 15%
The sequel is officially titled Alien: Isolation 2. Creative Assembly’s reveal moved the hunt to Kurosaki Station, an unsuspecting colony world, while keeping stealth and survival at the centre. That is exactly the right expansion: more space, more people, more ways for one creature to dismantle everyone’s plans.
It only just resurfaced at Summer Game Fest, so another major trailer in August would be quick. Still, a short behind-the-scenes beat would not shock me.
Spyro: A Realm Beyond — 65%
Spyro 4 has a name. Toys for Bob’s A Realm Beyond arrives in spring 2027, brings Tom Kenny back and—hallelujah—adds true free flight. After years of begging, the purple dragon is finally getting a new adventure instead of another rumour cycle.
Xbox has a large Gamescom presence and this is exactly the sort of colourful, playable crowd-pleaser the show needs. Give us a world, a villain and ten uninterrupted seconds of soaring.
Gen Atlas — 10%
Fumito Ueda’s “Project Robot” is now Gen Atlas: a science-fiction adventure of giant machines, desolate landscapes, climbing and an unexpected streak of third-person shooting. The important Ueda ingredients remain—scale, vulnerability, companionship and the sense that a quiet ruin remembers more than you do.
It had a substantial SGF reveal, so I expect Ueda’s usual, dignified silence for a while.
Persona 6 — 20%
Atlus finally announced Persona 6 at the Xbox Games Showcase. We have a teaser, a new standalone story and almost no useful detail—which, naturally, means the colour theorists are already at war.
Atlus could use ONL for a first look at the cast or setting, but Tokyo Game Show feels like the more natural next step.
Control Resonant — 70%
What I had listed as Control 2 is now Control Resonant, launching September 24. Dylan Faden leads a melee-focused journey through a Manhattan deformed by paranatural forces, with Jesse returning and a shapeshifting weapon called the Aberrant.
This is a near-perfect ONL candidate: one month from release, visually wild and built for a trailer that makes half the audience say, “I have no idea what that was, but I need it.”
Senua — 45%
The hoped-for Hellblade III exists, but Ninja Theory has wisely dropped the numeral. Senua is a 2027 action-adventure set after Hellblade II, with multiple-enemy combat, a more interconnected world, larger bosses and the heroine caught between life and death.
It directly addresses the old entry’s wishlist. A short Gamescom follow-up is plausible, though Xbox may save the deeper look for 2027.
Kingdom Hearts IV — 15%
After years of silence, Kingdom Hearts IV reappeared in Nintendo’s June Direct and is coming to Switch 2 alongside other platforms. The actual worlds remain the delicious question. I am still betting on Star Wars and Avatar, because subtlety has never been this series’ problem.
Square Enix has plenty else to promote, so I would expect the next major beat at Tokyo Game Show or a dedicated presentation.
Marvel’s Wolverine — 35%
Insomniac finally showed the game properly in June: brutal combat, Team X, Jean Grey, the Reavers and a September 15 release date. The leaks did not kill the excitement; if anything, the official footage reclaimed the conversation.
One final trailer at ONL would make sense, but PlayStation may keep the marketing on its own channels.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin — 25%
The project is alive, but transformed. Black Forest Games is no longer the story: Paramount Games Studio has put the adaptation in the hands of PlatinumGames. That is a serious upgrade in action pedigree and a second chance to make the comic’s grief, rage and weapon-swapping sing.
The handover was only revealed at SGF, so do not expect gameplay yet. A developer message or mood piece is possible.
God of War: Laufey — 30%
The vague “God of War 6” wish has produced two answers. Santa Monica Studio’s God of War: Laufey—a mainline PS5 chapter following Faye through the afterlife of the gods—now launches February 16, 2027. Cory Barlog has also confirmed that the game sets up a following chapter led by Kratos, though that sequel has no title or date. So yes: the sixth Kratos game is real too.
PlayStation has also confirmed that the original Greek trilogy is being remade, so the series now has a prequel, a Kratos-led future and a restoration project. Laufey is close enough to release for an ONL trailer; the other two projects should remain offstage.
Legacy of Kain — 15%
The series has stirred: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered was followed by Defiance Remastered in March 2026, while Legacy of Kain: Ascendance attempted something new. That is more movement than fans had seen in decades, even if it is not yet the grand Kain-and-Raziel continuation many of us want.
I am keeping a true sequel on the board, but lowering the odds until Crystal Dynamics shows what the response to those releases means for the future.
The oldest, wildest dreams
An open-universe Star Trek RPG — 0.5%
Mass Effect already demonstrated the blueprint: a ship, a crew, difficult choices and a galaxy that feels larger than the quest marker. Trek needs a story-led RPG where diplomacy matters as much as phasers and where exploration is not code for harvesting coloured minerals. No credible announcement yet; still absurdly overdue.
Alien: Xenomorph — 0.5%
Isolation 2 lets us fear the perfect organism again. My other dream lets us become it: a photorealistic third-person stealth game built around vents, ceilings, scent, patience and terror. Begin as a facehugger, grow into the hunter and make every human encounter feel like a puzzle box full of panic.
MonsterVerse: Monarch Mayhem — 1%
Give me a photorealistic fighting game at the monsters’ actual scale: slow, committed attacks; collapsing cities; environmental tactics; Mama MUTO on the roster. The MonsterVerse remains popular enough to justify it. The continuing absence of a proper titan brawler remains baffling.
Wonderland: Veil of Reveries — 0.5%
Not another gothic riff on American McGee—give me Tenniel’s Wonderland made tangible. A melancholy open-world action RPG with impossible regions, shifting rules, unsettling creatures and art direction bold enough to make photorealism feel strange again. Think God of War by way of a fever dream, with the Jabberwock waiting at the end.
The NeverEnding Story: Echoes of Phantasia — 0.5%
A dual-reality RPG moving between our world and Phantasia, with party-building, memory, loss and imagination at its heart. Falcor becomes a late-game mount because some ideas are simply correct. No game is announced, but the property still feels born for one.
Oz: The Emerald Quest — 0.5%
Oz already has the party structure, the road, the strange nations, the summons and the final castle. Make it a vivid turn-based RPG in the spirit of Final Fantasy IX: recruit allies, follow and leave the Yellow Brick Road, and let every region feel as if a different illustrator dreamed it.
Neverland: Flight of the Lost — 0.1%
The Pathless, but Peter Pan: elegant flight, an island full of secrets and a quest to find the Lost Boys. Keep it breezy, stylised and free of upgrade-tree sludge. Sometimes movement is the game.
Borrowers: The Quest of Pod Clock — 0.5%
Grounded proved the miniature world works. This version would be warmer and more story-led: thimble shields, needle swords, a house and garden rendered as continents, and rabbits, birds, snails or snakes as mounts. Closest current cousin: Hawthorn.
Jurassic Park: Breakout — 0.5%
Let us play as the Big One. A third-person raptor game set before the 1993 incident could combine stalking, pack hierarchy, jungle tracking and an adaptive Muldoon hunt, ending with the inevitable capture that leads into the film. Jurassic Park: Survival covers the human nightmare; this would tell the predator’s story.
A Game of Thrones open-world RPG — 8%
We have Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, but the dream remains a proper single-player Westerosi RPG: create a minor House, navigate fealty and betrayal, travel from the North to Dorne and earn any contact with dragons instead of receiving it in hour one. War for Westeros may cool publishers on announcing another project immediately, but this still feels inevitable.
Goosebumps: Escape from Horrorland remake or sequel — 0.1%
Restore the weird FMV cult classic, preserve Jeff Goldblum’s gloriously excessive Dracula and rebuild Horrorland as a surreal first-person adventure. No lore bible, no grim reboot—just clever puzzles, camp horror and children making catastrophically poor decisions.
PaRappa the Rapper 3 — 3%
The rhythm never left. Sony did. A compact, stylish sequel with new music, hand-drawn energy and no attempt to turn PaRappa into a service platform would be a perfect palate cleanser between thirty-minute combat demonstrations.
The PlayStation and N64 generation: the remake mine
Pandemonium! remake or sequel — 12%
With Crash, Spyro and Croc revived, the candy-coloured 2.5D chaos of Lyr no longer looks commercially impossible. Keep the rollercoaster camera, acrobatics and slapstick; fix the controls and let the geometry get weird.
ClayFighter revival — 4%
Online play, genuinely good combat and modern stop-motion could turn this grotesque ’90s parody into a cult hit again. It does not need to compete with Tekken. It needs a sentient snowman, a cyborg rabbit and the courage to be extremely stupid.
Overboard! remake or sequel — 0.1%
Psygnosis’s jaunty top-down pirate game deserves a small, colourful comeback with sharp naval handling, couch co-op and compact seas full of secrets. Not every revival needs Unreal Engine, a skill tree and 80 hours of map icons.
Kula World remake or sequel — 8%
A chrome ball, impossible platforms, fruit, keys and gravity: done. Add pristine reflections, a level editor, leaderboards and split-screen. Do not add lore. The void does not require a codex.
Heart of Darkness remake or sequel — 3%
Eric Chahi’s painterly nightmare prefigured Limbo and Inside, yet remains trapped on the original PlayStation. A careful restoration would be enough; a sequel about another small figure lost inside a vast, hostile world would be even better.
Apocalypse remake or sequel — 2%
Bruce Willis, industrial hellscapes, doomsday cults and PS1 run-and-gun excess: Apocalypse could return as a lean, self-aware action game. Recast rather than digitally resurrect Willis. The original’s B-movie soul matters more than facial technology.
Chrono Trigger remake or sequel — 15%
Square Enix keeps circling its classics, but Chrono Trigger remains sacred ground. A faithful HD-2D remake is safer than turning it into another multi-part mega-production. A sequel is the dream; restraint is the requirement.
Blood Lines remake — 0.3%
Radical Entertainment’s obscure, punky arena-platform hybrid was messy, rebellious and years ahead of the current appetite for genre collisions. A stylish multiplayer remake could finally find its audience. The rights archaeology may be harder than the development.
Gex 4 — 15%
The trilogy collection proved Gex can still crawl out of the media dimension. A fourth game should parody the internet rather than cable TV: algorithm temples, ad dungeons, comment-section wastelands and conspiracy icebergs. Bring Danny John-Jules back and give the writing an editor with a merciless cringe detector.
Jet Force Gemini remake or sequel — 12%
Rare’s bug-blasting space opera still has a singular mix of cute mascots, child-soldier melancholy and a cyberdog with a jetpack. Modernise the shooting, keep three distinct heroes and build compact alien worlds instead of a galaxy of filler.
Banjo-Threeie — 25%
Still the cleanest pitch in games: make the third one. Six dense worlds, transformations, jokes, music, Grunty rhymes and no vehicle-building thesis statement. Xbox’s renewed interest in recognisable single-player games keeps the hope alive, but Spyro probably occupies the mascot slot this year.
Final Fantasy IX remake — 35%
The rumours remain remarkably persistent, but Square Enix still has not announced it. The right version is painterly, compact and mechanically faithful: expressive characters, refined ATB combat, expanded side stories and no attempt to turn Gaia into four releases. With Final Fantasy VII Revelation now due in spring 2027, Square may avoid competing with itself.
Vagrant Story remake or sequel — 10%
Leá Monde deserves another descent: political intrigue, oppressive architecture and systems deep enough to frighten a spreadsheet. A remake should clarify the original’s complexity without sanding it smooth. Matsuno’s world needs texture, not spectacle.
MediEvil 2 remake or MediEvil 3 — 4%
The 2019 remake stopped one game short. Finish the job, then give Sir Dan a genuine third disaster. Keep the mumbling, grotesque art and melancholy silliness; improve the combat and camera.
Dino Crisis remake or sequel — 20%
Capcom’s remake machine keeps producing, yet Regina remains in storage. The ideal return is a tight techno-thriller: smart pack-hunting dinosaurs, dense facilities, escalating dread and no open-world bloat. The Resident Evil Veronicareveal lowers the chance of another Capcom remake announcement this soon.
Conker sequel — 3%
The world is certainly broken enough for Conker. The harder question is whether any platform holder wants to publish comedy that is expensive, offensive and impossible to localise. Keep it short, genre-hopping and viciously funny.
Bust A Groove remake or sequel — 3%
Stylish characters, competitive dancing, local and online multiplayer, and a soundtrack with an actual point of view. Rhythm games are healthy enough to support it. Square’s archive is simply very deep.
The PS2 era and other unfinished business
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter sequel — 4%
The 2024 remaster already polished Jango’s original adventure. The next step should be a new underworld story built around contracts, investigation, jetpack traversal and targets who can be captured rather than merely shot.
Buffy: an open-Sunnydale RPG — 2%
The format writes itself: patrol by night, school or work by day, branching friendships, episodic monsters and one seasonal Big Bad. It should be witty, intimate and a little cheap-looking in exactly the right television way.
Final Fantasy X-3 — 8%
Spira’s story can continue, but only if it has something to say about age, faith and the cost of happy endings. Bring back turn-based strategy, let the world breathe and do not reverse old sacrifices for an easy cheer.
Maximo remake or sequel — 8%
Capcom’s spooky action-platformer could thrive as a focused, difficult AA game: graves, traps, castles, snappy melee combat and arcade-like bosses. No extraction mechanics required.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 — 25%
Ubisoft still lists it as in development, which makes this less a prediction than a wellness check. The space-pirate prequel has survived leadership changes and corporate purges, but has not shown itself publicly in years. I want the heart, music and resistance of the original—not just an impressive planet engine.
Primal remake, remaster or sequel — 3%
Jen and Scree’s demonic road trip remains one of PlayStation’s strangest abandoned worlds. A remaster would be enough to reintroduce it; a sequel could turn its realm-switching into a modern action-adventure without losing the goth sincerity.
Half-Life 3 — 35%
Valve rumours are practically a renewable resource. If a third game exists, it must justify the number through interaction and design, not merely continue a cliffhanger. Gamescom is not Valve’s usual stage, but normal rules stopped applying to this prediction years ago.
Knights of the Old Republic remake or KOTOR III — 20%
Saber says the remake is still in development. That is thin, but better than carbonite. The dream remains a faithful modernisation of the original followed, one day, by a true third chapter built around choice, companions and the philosophical Star Wars BioWare and Obsidian once made.
Jade Empire remake or sequel — 5%
BioWare’s full attention is on Mass Effect, so this is not happening soon. It should: martial arts, spirits, moral philosophy and a mythic world unlike the studio’s other settings. A focused remake could remind everyone how adventurous BioWare once was.
Superman — 3%
Do not nerf him; challenge him differently. Make Metropolis the health bar, force impossible rescue priorities and build systems around restraint, perception and hope. A great Superman game is a design problem worth solving, not evidence that the character is “too powerful.”
Syphon Filter remake or sequel — 4%
Bend Studio’s cancelled live-service project has reset the studio’s future, and its next game remains unannounced. A return to Gabe Logan would be a poetic recovery: tight missions, stealth, espionage and absolutely no gigantic open world built merely because the team knows how.
Prince of Persia 2008 remaster or sequel — 2%
The painterly reboot ended on a fascinatingly selfish decision and never received its proper continuation. The cancellation of the Sands of Time remake makes any near-term Prince project less likely, but Elika’s story still deserves an ending.
Lost: a first-person island RPG — 0.5%
New survivor, new crash, same Island. Build it around factions, scarcity, trust and mysteries that reshape relationships rather than fill a collectibles menu. The hatch should be discovered, not signposted.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Warriors of Aslan — 0.5%
Create a human, faun, dwarf or talking animal; roam from Lantern Waste to Cair Paravel; choose loyalties; ride a griffin; make Turkish Delight a buff with catastrophic social consequences. Greta Gerwig’s films could renew interest, but no game is announced.
Brütal Legend 2 — 10%
Jack Black is still game, Double Fine can now build a sequel at the right scale and metal remains immortal. Refine the action-strategy blend, expand the album-cover world and cast Tobias Forge as a villain. The crowd has been chanting for seventeen years.
Tenchu 5 — 1%
Where is it? That was the entire old entry, and honestly it remains sufficient.
The modern waitlist
Fable — 35%
Playground’s reboot now launches February 23, 2027. Hayley Atwell plays Isabel, Jack of Blades has been teased and Albion looks exactly as inviting and dangerous as it should. Xbox may show a compact trailer at ONL, but June already gave it a major stage.
A new mainline 3D Prince of Persia — 4%
With the Sands of Time remake officially cancelled in January, the Prince needs a future rather than another archaeological dig. Keep the graceful traversal, time manipulation and tightly designed routes; resist the urge to make an enormous map.
The Elder Scrolls VI — 12%
Bethesda says production is progressing and its roadmap survived the latest upheaval, while Fallout 5 remains in pre-production behind it. I still want a world deeper rather than merely bigger: dense towns, reactive factions, better combat and handcrafted discoveries. A Gamescom reveal would be seismic—and very unlike Bethesda’s preferred timing.
Portal 3 — 15%
More GLaDOS, new rules and puzzles built around an idea as clean as portals were in 2007. Do not make it huge; make it exact. Stephen Merchant is welcome to return by whatever narrative contortion is required.
Sowden House — 5%
The proposed 1940s Los Angeles psychological thriller remains more rumour than production. The pitch is irresistible: L.A. Noire interrogation, historical dread, minimal combat and a house tied to the Black Dahlia legend. Until a developer speaks, treat the door as closed.
Max Payne 1 & 2 remake / Max Payne 4 — 30%
Remedy and Rockstar’s combined remake is the real project; a fourth game is the dream beyond it. Keep bullet time physical, New York wintry and the prose wounded. Do not force Max into the Remedy Connected Universe just because the paperwork can be made to fit.
BioShock 4 — 20%
Cloud Chamber’s game is still alive after leadership changes and layoffs, but has no title or public footage. The rumoured Antarctic setting is only a rumour. What matters is a city built on an idea, a political horror worth examining and systems that let the player break the designer’s plans.
Splinter Cell remake / sequel — 20%
Ubisoft Toronto’s remake remains in development. That makes a sequel unlikely for now, but the remake itself is an excellent ONL possibility: dynamic light, open-ended missions, patient stealth and Michael Ironside wherever age and story allow.
Grand Theft Auto VI — 1%
Rockstar has moved the launch to November 19, 2026 and has no need to borrow Geoff’s stage. The game will appear when Rockstar uploads it to Rockstar’s channel, and the entire internet will stop anyway.
Rayman 4 — 8%
June brought Rayman Legends Retold, a 3D reimagining due October 1. That is not the full fourth adventure I wanted, but it proves Ubisoft sees value in the limbless wonder. A completely new sequel can wait until the remake shows whether the audience still dances.
The Order: 1887 / 1891 — 0%
Ready at Dawn is gone and the rights sit with Sony, so a direct sequel has no realistic path today. The dream remains: broader encounters, interconnected hubs, deeper characters, more monsters and a resolution to that brutally unfinished story. I am keeping the candle lit, not pretending it is sunlight.
Fallout 5 — 3%
Bethesda now describes it as being in pre-production, while The Elder Scrolls VI takes priority. Newly confirmed Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters—and another Obsidian collaboration—are the near-term story. A logo tease at ONL would achieve nothing except ageing us all in real time.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 6 — 15%
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is already out. If it sold strongly, a true sixth game is the logical next trick: classic handling, inventive levels, deep creation tools and a soundtrack that mixes old punks with artists who are still young enough to fall safely.
Batman: Arkham 5 — 8%
Reports continue to point toward Rocksteady returning to Batman, but no game has been announced. The right sequel explores the Knightfall aftermath, integrates the Bat-family without diluting Batman and remembers that predator rooms are puzzles—not waiting areas between tank battles.
Bloodborne remake or sequel — 2%
Bluepoint’s reported remake path died with the studio’s closure in February. FromSoftware is busy elsewhere and Sony remains silent. The demand has never been clearer; the route to an actual game has rarely looked worse.
Metal Gear Solid 6 — 1%
Konami has Delta and the Master Collection to build upon. A sixth game without Kojima is possible someday, but the next sensible step is preservation—and perhaps a remake of the first Metal Gear Solid—before anyone tries to extend the canon.
Dark Souls IV or remake — 2%
FromSoftware has no need to retreat from Elden Ring, and the trilogy reached an ending. Still, the compact, interlocked level design of the original Dark Souls remains different enough to deserve another experiment someday.
Playdead’s next game — 20%
The studio’s third-person, open-world science-fiction adventure remains untitled. The available concept art suggests lonely machinery, a remote world and at least one vehicle. After ten years, even a title card would feel like contact from deep space.
Dishonored 3 — 3%
The old FTC roadmap is not a current announcement, Arkane Austin is gone and Arkane Lyon is making Blade. I want a new city, a new outsider-marked protagonist and systemic stealth that trusts the player. I do not expect it soon.
The next Mass Effect — 15%
BioWare confirms that a core team led by trilogy veterans is developing it. That is the fact; almost everything else is fan astronomy. Give us a small, memorable crew, consequential choices and exploration with stories rather than scanning chores.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Sauron — 3%
Talion’s trilogy is unlikely while Warhorse occupies the single-player Middle-earth spotlight. The Nemesis System still deserves a future, but Warner Bros. has spent years guarding its patent more carefully than its franchise.
Giant Sparrow’s “Codename Heron” — 15%
The Edith Finch studio says its next game explores the wonders and horrors of biology through a field biologist studying mundane and fantastical urban wildlife. That is a wonderful sentence. Show me one impossible animal and I am in.
Ni no Kuni III — 8%
There is no meaningful heat around a third mainline game. I still want a true Ghibli-adjacent RPG with a varied party, a generous overworld and less friction than the second game’s kingdom systems.
Cory Barlog’s new project — 10%
God of War: Laufey is now official, but that does not necessarily resolve years of rumours about Barlog’s science-fiction idea. Until Santa Monica explains the teams and directors, I am treating the space project as unconfirmed rather than quietly converting it into Maz Kanata fan fiction.
Bend Studio’s next project — 3%
The live-service title was cancelled; whatever comes next is a reset, not the five-year mystery the old draft described. Days Gone 2 and Syphon Filter remain fan wishes, not evidence.
Sekiro 2 — 3%
The first game ended cleanly but left one road pointing west. A sequel built around a new journey and the same crisp swordplay would be welcome. There is no sign FromSoftware is taking it.
Devil May Cry 6 — 15%
Capcom knows the series is valuable, but has announced nothing. Let Nero lead, let Dante and Vergil become the world’s most destructive optional uncles, and keep combat expressive enough to make normal players feel inadequate.
Way to the Woods — 0.5%
Anthony Tan’s deer-and-fawn journey remains one of the most beautiful question marks in Australian indie development. Until the creator provides a firm update, it stays in the category between “still cooking” and “please tell us you are okay.”
The Last of Us Part III — 5%
Naughty Dog has not announced it, and Neil Druckmann has publicly warned fans not to assume it will happen. Intergalactic is the active game. If a third part comes, it should exist because the story demands one—not because prestige television created a content deadline.
Watch Dogs sequel or remake — 5%
The film keeps the name alive, but Ubisoft has offered no game. A return should shrink the map, sharpen the systemic hacking and recover the sense that every camera and traffic light belongs to the player.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet — 10%
Naughty Dog’s new science-fiction epic remains years away by most expectations. A Gamescom trailer would be welcome, but Sony has no reason to hurry a game whose first reveal already did its job.
Oddworld sequel — 8%
Five years after Soulstorm, Lorne Lanning’s strange, angry industrial universe deserves its next chapter. Keep the satire, creatures and moral weight; make the systems clearer and the saves kinder.
Turtle Rock’s next game — 8%
The studio has not officially revealed its post-Back 4 Blood project. I still want the teamwork and creature tension of Evolve, minus the business model that ate it alive.
Psychonauts 3 or remake — 2%
Double Fine has repeatedly cooled expectations. That is sensible. Raz’s world should return when Tim Schafer has a story, not because a content calendar has an empty quarter.
Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra — 55%
Skydance still lists Amy Hennig’s wartime Captain America and Black Panther adventure for 2026. With no firm date and the year narrowing, ONL is a logical place for clarity. The performances, Occupied Paris and split perspectives remain hugely promising.
Halo 7 — 5%
Halo: Campaign Evolved just launched across Xbox, PC and PlayStation. Let that remake breathe. The next original campaign needs a strong identity and a complete story before it needs a logo.
Star Wars: Eclipse — 20%
Quantic Dream says the High Republic project remains in production. After five years, the reveal trailer has done all the work it can do. A real look would be one of ONL’s biggest surprises.
Horizon 3 — 5%
Aloy’s trilogy will almost certainly conclude, but Sony has not announced the game. With adaptations and other Horizon projects in motion, a tease is possible; a meaningful reveal still feels early.
Ebb Software’s next game — 5%
Scorn established a studio with a singular eye. Whatever comes next should keep the biological unease while giving players a stronger reason to move through it. No project has been announced.
BlueTwelve’s next game — 5%
After Stray, the studio can probably choose its next odd little world. The film adaptation does not tell us what that world is. Another animal protagonist would be welcome; another cat is not mandatory.
Assassin’s Creed Hexe — 35%
This is real, not a rumour: Ubisoft’s darker witchcraft-era project remains one of the series’ most intriguing pivots. After the company’s restructuring, a proper gameplay reveal would reassure players that the experimental pitch survived intact.
Elden Ring II — 2%
The A24 film is moving, but FromSoftware has not announced a direct sequel. The studio rarely follows success in the obvious way. Let the Lands Between remain strange rather than immediately becoming a content factory.
Amy Hennig’s Star Wars game — 10%
Skydance New Media’s narrative-driven Star Wars adventure is still officially in development, but Marvel 1943 must ship first. Three words would help: era, protagonist, title.
Judas — 45%
Ken Levine’s narrative shooter still has no release date. The Mayflower, its three ideological leaders and the “narrative LEGO” structure remain fascinating. At this point I need one uninterrupted mission, not another montage of powers and cryptic family arguments.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 — 5%
Insomniac is launching Wolverine. Peter, Miles and Silk can wait their turn. The sequel is inevitable; an announcement before Logan is out would only split the spotlight.
Marvel’s Blade — 15%
Arkane Lyon’s third-person action game remains one of Marvel’s best fits: a compact, systemic Paris quarantined by vampires. The studio has been quiet since the reveal. A mood trailer is possible; gameplay may still be distant.
Geometric Interactive’s next game — 5%
Cocoon was too assured to be a fluke. Whatever Jeppe Carlsen’s team does next, I expect one simple input to unfold into several impossible systems. There is no announced title yet.
Star Wars Jedi III — 15%
EA has confirmed that Respawn is working toward the final chapter of Cal Kestis’s story. After studio disruption and other cancelled Star Wars projects, a reassuring title card would carry unusual weight. Also: Tauntaun and fathier riding, please.
Project Dragon / IOI’s fantasy RPG — 8%
IO Interactive has acknowledged an online fantasy RPG project, but 007 First Light only just launched. Let the studio enjoy Bond before asking it to explain dragons, multiplayer and whatever “Project Fantasy” has become.
Hogwarts Legacy sequel — 20%
Warner Bros. has called a sequel a priority, while the HBO series keeps the broader brand in motion. I want a denser school year, stronger friendships, consequences and a castle that remains mysterious after the first ten hours. A logo tease is plausible; a full reveal is premature.
Baldur’s Gate IV — 3%
Larian is done with the licence. Wizards of the Coast will eventually return to the name, but choosing a studio capable of following Baldur’s Gate 3 is the real boss battle. Do not announce it until that answer is convincing.
OD — 10%
Kojima’s Xbox horror experiment is still defined by faces, fear tests and Jordan Peele. Production lost time during the actors’ strike, and no release date exists. A Gamescom update would suit Xbox, though Kojima may prefer a stage where he can speak for 25 delightful minutes.
Diablo V — 0%
Diablo IV is an ongoing platform. Ask again in the 2030s.
Jurassic Park: Survival — 30%
The official site still offers no release date. The pitch remains perfect: Dr Maya Joshi, Isla Nublar immediately after the first film, stealth, scarce resources and dinosaurs treated as animals rather than mobile shooting galleries. We need gameplay and a date, not another atmospheric sprint past a raptor.
Clockwork Revolution — 35%
The June trailer introduced Morgan’s gang, the Rotten Row Hooligans, and showed more of the Chronometer’s butterfly effects. Xbox still has not dated inXile’s steampunk RPG. Gamescom is a sensible place for a deeper quest demonstration, though another trailer without a year would begin to feel evasive.
The next mainline Zelda — 1%
Nintendo has said the next game will move beyond the exact Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom template, but has announced nothing. With the Ocarina remake now carrying Zelda’s 2026 banner, a new Hyrule can remain secret.
Final Fantasy XVII — 3%
Square Enix’s mainline future remains unannounced. My wish is straightforward: a varied controllable party, deep progression, memorable summons, a world with colour and a modern turn-based or hybrid system that learns from Clair Obscur without imitating it.
Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth — 1%
The game’s Steam page disappeared after Annapurna’s internal development turmoil, and no formal cancellation has closed the case. Until the publisher reaffirms it, this is less a prediction than a missing-person notice.
Physint — 3%
Kojima’s PlayStation espionage project entered production after Death Stranding 2 and is expected to take years. Any appearance now would be a concept, a face or a famous friend walking onto a stage—not a game demonstration.
Dragon Age V — 0.5%
BioWare is concentrated on Mass Effect after The Veilguard, and the Dragon Age team has been dramatically reduced. A fifth game is not impossible forever. It is functionally impossible at ONL 2026.
Billy Basso’s next game — 5%
Animal Well earned Basso the freedom to take his time. I would rather be surprised in three years than shown a logo because the algorithm demands momentum.
Hawthorn — 20%
NEARstudios’ co-op village RPG—anthropomorphic animals, fairy-tale craft and former Skyrim, Mass Effect and The Last of Us talent—remains undated. It is exactly the kind of warm, tactile game that benefits from Gamescom hands-on attention.
Ghost of a Tale 2 — 15%
Tilo lives. SeithCG’s sequel is real, beautiful and still without a date. I want one lantern-lit corridor, one tiny lute and confirmation that a small team is being given the time it needs.
Giant Skull’s Dungeons & Dragons game — 2%
Stig Asmussen’s studio only recently announced its single-player D&D action-adventure. The interesting facts are the team and the licence; anything more this year would be an indulgence.
Tides of Annihilation — 50%
Eclipse Glow’s Arthurian action game still targets 2026 without a firm date. Modern London, spectral knights and enormous bosses make it ideal ONL material. Now it needs a release plan and a clear demonstration of how all that spectacle feels in the hands.
Sandfall’s next Clair Obscur story — 2%
The studio has spoken about a broader future for Clair Obscur, not announced a direct sequel. Let Expedition 33 finish changing the industry before demanding Expedition 34.
The Blood of Dawnwalker — 85%
The vampire RPG launches September 3 and has already gone gold. Its day/night structure—human by day, vampire by night—effectively creates two approaches to the same 30-day crisis. A launch trailer at ONL is close to a lock.
Ritual Tides — 10%
Vertpaint’s first-person horror game still has the irresistible hook: a fictional British island, Lovecraftian dread and a strange relationship with firearms. The old 2025 window has passed, so the next trailer needs a new date.
Out of Words — 25%
Kong Orange and WiredFly’s stop-motion co-op romance is due in 2026. Kurt and Karla’s journey through Vokabulantis looks tactile, vulnerable and mechanically built around communication—the opposite of most couch co-op shouting, in theory.
Infinitesimals — 15%
Tiny soldiers, gigantic garden-scale threats and the faint memory of InseKtors: the premise remains immediately readable. Gamescom would be a good place to prove whether the scale is a mechanic or only an art direction.
Toroa: Skycall — 10%
An albatross crossing the Pacific through a world grounded in Māori culture is already a stronger premise than many games manage in 40 hours. Keep the flight expressive, the ocean vast and the story light enough to travel on the wind.
ILL — 35%
The gruesome first-person horror game appeared again in June with physics, dismemberment and a deeply unpleasant fort. Another ONL showing is plausible, but the next trailer should establish character and purpose alongside all that beautifully simulated meat.
Whispers in the Fog — 10%
One developer, a rainy forest, amnesia, a flashlight and voices in the dark. Pasquale Scionti’s project does not need a huge stage, but its atmosphere could steal a sizzle reel.
The Explorator — 8%
Atlantis, mysterious counter-zones and treasure under ruins: I remain here primarily for the colour palette and the promise of places that should not exist. Show the exploration loop and the vibes can do the rest.
Mandrake — 10%
A rural life sim about the last gardener in a sorcerous family, blending horticulture, British folklore and “fireside menace.” That phrase already did most of the marketing. A new trailer would fit Gamescom’s indie showcases better than ONL proper.
Off the prediction board: already released
These entries were still described as upcoming in the old draft. They have now shipped, so assigning them showcase percentages would be nonsense.
Hollow Knight: Silksong — released in 2025. The suffering ended; a new kind began.
Sword of the Sea — released in August 2025.
Herdling — released in August 2025.
Ghost of Yōtei — released in October 2025.
Keeper — released in October 2025.
Resident Evil Requiem — released February 27, 2026.
Replaced — released April 14, 2026.
007 First Light — released May 27, 2026.
They can return in a “best of the year” piece. They no longer belong in a reveal prediction list.
Off the prediction board: cancelled, closed or on hold
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake — Ubisoft stopped development in January 2026. It should not appear elsewhere in the article as an 80% lock.
Contraband — active development stopped in 2025. Unless Avalanche finds a new path, treat it as cancelled.
Bluepoint’s new game — Sony closed Bluepoint Games in February 2026. There is no mystery project left to predict.
The old Bend Studio live-service project — cancelled. Bend’s eventual replacement project is unknown.
Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth — not formally cancelled, but delisted and unconfirmed after Annapurna’s internal upheaval. I have kept it above at 1% only because nobody has pronounced it dead.
The dream-pitch shelf
These are not rumours. They are games I want somebody to steal from me and make properly.
The Time Machine: Beneath the World — 0%
Play as a Morlock in a third-person RPG where evolution is the progression system. Raid the Eloi, protect them or learn from them; challenge the subterranean caste system; touch time fractures that recover ancestral human memories. Your habits reshape your biology—darkness strengthens you, language changes you, empathy becomes either evolution or contamination.
Three paths give the idea its spine: unite the worlds above and below; become the perfect predator; or repair the Time Machine and prevent your species from existing. The question is not “what if you played the monster?” It is “what if the monster is the last human thing left?”
Star Wars: The Quest of Maz Kanata — 0%
To be extremely clear: this is my pitch, not leaked news and not a fake press release from the future.
Maz Kanata is perfect for a dual-timeline action RPG. Play her as an impulsive relic hunter during the High Republic and as the ancient castle keeper between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Decisions in the past alter planets, allies and ruins in the present, while Force echoes lead toward the story of how Luke’s lightsaber travelled from Cloud City to Takodana.
Make the castle an evolving hub. Let relics unlock playable memories. Cast Lupita Nyong’o, give the younger Maz her own performer and build the story around the cost of carrying a thousand years of other people’s history. Cory Barlog does not need to direct it—but somebody with patience for memory, grief and very large creatures should.
Other big pitches that deserve more than a line
Temeraire — a Napoleonic dragon RPG built around aerial warfare, friendship and the politics of intelligent creatures.
Planet of the Apes — create an ape, choose a clan and explore a reclaimed world in a systemic RPG inspired by Horizon.
Dark Crystal — an open-Thra RPG of clans, creatures, pilgrimage and practical-looking fantasy.
Mouse Guard — a small-scale survival RPG where weather, predators and a muddy path are epic threats.
How to Train Your Dragon — raise, bond with and fly a dragon across a dense archipelago; no disposable mounts.
His Dark Materials — a companion-led RPG where dæmon form, Dust and moral choice are actual systems.
The Matrix — an action RPG built around shifting rules, social stealth and incursions between ordinary life and impossible code.
Pirates of the Caribbean — ship, crew, swordplay, curses and a sea dense enough that sailing never becomes a commute.
Avatar: The Last Airbender — a third-person open-world RPG where bending is movement, combat and puzzle-solving rather than four coloured projectile types.
Fantasy worlds: a Ghibli RPG; Dinotopia; Gargoyles; Hellboy; Vampire Hunter D; Carnival Row; an Eragon dragon RPG; Dragonriders of Pern; Saga of Pliocene Exile; Pan’s Labyrinth; Eternia/Masters of the Universe; and a Warcraft third-person RPG.
Science-fiction worlds: a third-person James Cameron’s Avatar RPG; Evangelion; John Carter of Mars; StarCraft; Overwatch; a Logan’s Run immersive sim; Tremors survival horror; a Reign of Fire sequel; a Sword/Warp RidersRPG; The Fifth Element; Pacific Rim; SCP; Ghostbusters; a third-person Destiny RPG; a third-person MetroidRPG; and Mecha Samurai Empire.
Film, television and literary worlds: a first-person Lost RPG; Jumanji; a Nightcrawler RPG; Zorro; Moebius/Arzach; MirrorMask; Brotherhood of the Wolf; Dracula; Frankenstein; The Odyssey; Underworld; Treasure Planet; Rango; The Sopranos; and a live-action/animation Roger Rabbit RPG.
Game-world side roads: a Castlevania action RPG; a Mortal Kombat adventure RPG; a Marvel Toad RPG; Warhammer RPGs centred on Bretonnia, Lizardmen and T’au; an open-world Oddworld RPG; and whatever A44 Games makes after Flintlock.
Creator-led oddities: an A24 multiverse game; a Don Bluth multiverse RPG; Laika and Aardman open-world RPGs; a Jordan Peele-verse; Guillermo del Toro and Jodorowsky RPGs; and a David Attenborough-narrated nature game.
Culturally grounded worlds: a First Peoples of Africa RPG and an Indigenous Australian Alcheringa RPG—made only through genuine partnership, authorship and cultural authority.
The revival shelf
One clean list, no duplicates, no pretending each needs three paragraphs:
Tomba! sequel
Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear remake
Altered Beast reboot
Looney Tunes: Taz remaster
open-world Looney Tunes game starring Wile E. Coyote
Citizens: Kabuto remake
the old Pumpkin game, remade
The Last Guardian remaster
The Unholy War remake
Akuji the Heartless remake or sequel
C-12: Final Resistance remake or sequel
Parasite Eve remake
Kingsley’s Adventure remake
Alter Echo remake or sequel
Ecco the Dolphin 3
Star Wars: 1313
Star Wars: Ragtag
Star Wars: Racer remake or third game
Star Wars: Jedi Battles remake
photoreal Wipeout
Yoshimitsu RPG
Wolfenstein 3
Red Dead Redemption III
Destiny 3
Far Cry 7
Majora’s Mask remake
Project Awakening
Tangiers
Michel Ancel’s Wild
Scalebound
Everwild
Stubbs the Zombie 2
Voodoo Vince 2
Sneak King remaster, because history must be preserved in all its forms.
Star Wars games that should exist
Yes, this franchise gets its own shelf.
Darth Maul action RPG
Boba Fett bounty-hunting RPG
Luke Skywalker RPG
Rey RPG
Enfys Nest RPG
exploration game built around raising and riding Tauntauns, fathiers, varactyls, spamels, kaadu and eopies
fathier racer
modern podracing sequel
large-scale real-time strategy game
modern Shadows of the Empire
remakes of the Super Star Wars trilogy
the lost 1313 and Ragtag concepts, revived where possible
Amy Hennig’s announced game—once it has a title, an era and something we can actually look at.
Music, comedy and art games that should exist
Rhythm RPGs for Mastodon, Ghost and Fleet Foxes—the Ghost game leaning fully into theatrical horror
interactive art games for Tool, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Mario Duplantier
surreal games for Primus, Rush, Rammstein, Tame Impala, Sleep, Enya, Aesop Rock, Nile, King Diamond, Ashnikko and Wes Borland
an Abbath side-scroller
a Ninja Sex Party side-scroller
a Johnny the Homicidal Maniac game
a Flying Purple People Eater game
a Cirque du Soleil game
a Spinal Tap game
a Mighty Boosh game
a Black Books point-and-click adventure
a Blackadder point-and-click adventure
a Fawlty Towers point-and-click adventure
a Monty Python RPG
a Red Dwarf point-and-click adventure
a Charlie Chaplin silent-film game, with Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton as unlockable chaos
a Gorburger game, which I will not explain.
Animation, television and cult-film games that should exist
Doctor Who open-dimension RPG
Twin Peaks mystery game
Stig of the Dump platformer
Wind in the Willows cosy game
Fraggle Rock platformer
Jim Henson’s Labyrinth RPG
Jim Henson’s The Storyteller anthology game
Gremlins platformer
Freakazoid! RPG
Invader Zim RPG
Animorphs RPG
Biker Mice from Mars RPG
Street Sharks RPG
Blinky Bill platformer
FernGully open-forest RPG
Cow and Chicken platformer
surreal Space Ghost platformer
Ren & Stimpy platformer
Rocko’s Modern Life platformer
Daria life sim
Where the Wild Things Are RPG
Milo and Otis open-world adventure
Shrek RPG
Smiling Friends RPG
Space Jam sports game
The Mummy action-adventure
V for Vendetta open-London action RPG
Shanghai Noon action game
Rush Hour co-op action game
Predator RPG
Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes game starring Thade
A Man-Bat RPG, because Batman has had enough.
Adaptation watchlist
The old version mixed released projects, announced projects, rumours and bare titles. Here is the cleaner state of play.
Already arrived since the previous draft
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie — released in April 2026; the old “Super Mario World” title was wrong.
Return to Silent Hill — released January 23, 2026.
Fallout Season 2 — released; Season 3 is now the live project.
Dated or actively moving
Resident Evil — Zach Cregger’s film is dated September 18, 2026.
The Legend of Zelda — Wes Ball’s live-action film is dated May 7, 2027.
Fallout Season 3 — filming is underway; no premiere date.
The Last of Us Season 3 — announced; do not list a fourth season as guaranteed until HBO does.
The Witcher Seasons 4 and 5 — the final two-season run.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 — announced.
Announced, developing or still officially on the slate
BioShock — Netflix and director Francis Lawrence are developing a smaller, more personal version of the film.
Death Stranding film
Metal Gear Solid film
God of War series
Horizon adaptation
Alan Wake series
Gears of War film and animated project
Watch Dogs film
Ghost of Tsushima film and anime
Mass Effect series
Split Fiction film
Detective Pikachu sequel
Beyond Good & Evil film
Sable adaptation
Stray film
Night Call adaptation
Mosaic adaptation
Splinter Cell screen project
The old draft also listed God of War Season 2, Fallout Season 4 and The Last of Us Season 4 as if they were certainties. They may happen, but none belongs on a confirmed slate until its network or platform says so.
These are worth tracking, but several have no production date. “Announced” is not the same as “coming soon,” a lesson games have taught us repeatedly.
Adaptations that should exist
Blood Lines, starring Ray Park as Alex
The Order: 1886, directed by Guillermo del Toro
South of Midnight animated film
Red Dead Redemption series
Grand Theft Auto crime anthology
Destiny, with the scale and seriousness of Villeneuve’s Dune
Ghost of a Tale
Bramble: The Mountain King
Inside
Final thoughts
The best thing about maintaining this ridiculous list is watching fantasy migrate into reality. An open-world Tolkien RPG from Warhorse, a modern Ocarina of Time, a new Spyro, Persona 6, Ueda’s Gen Atlas—six months ago, several of those belonged in the delirious section.
That does not mean Gamescom owes us another miracle. Most of these percentages will be wrong. Half the announced games will appear later than we hope. Some will change studios, shrink, restart or vanish. But anticipation is part of the pleasure, and imagining the perfect version of a game is sometimes its own tiny creative act.
On August 25, I am watching most closely for The Blood of Dawnwalker, Control Resonant, Spyro: A Realm Beyond, Marvel 1943, Tides of Annihilation, Clockwork Revolution and one announcement nobody has successfully leaked.
And if Geoff walks out wearing a Banjo tie, I reserve the right to become completely unreasonable again.
— Albert Chessa
Husband, father, artist, writer, designer, musician
